The present invention relates generally to confectionery products. More specifically, the present invention relates to products that provide breath freshening properties and specifically chewing gums that provide breath freshening properties.
It is, of course, known to provide confectionery products for a variety of purposes. Typically these products provide a pleasant taste to the consumer. One such confectionery product is chewing gum.
Chewing gums that provide the consumer with a variety of flavors and characteristics are available. Typically chewing gum includes flavors and sweeteners. Flavors are designed to be released as the consumer chews the gum. There are a variety of types of chewing gums. For example, chewing gum can be provided in a shredded form, stick form, slab, ball, pellet, or other shapes and designs. It is also known to provide chewing gum that includes an outer coating. Typically, the outer coating is a hard shell that is either designed to dissolve in the mouth of the consumer or can be chewed. An example of such a product is a gumball.
Due to the release of flavor from the chewing gum during the chew, at least initially chewing gum can provide not only a pleasant taste to the consumer, but also breath freshening properties. In this regard, the release of flavor can mask mouth odors commonly referred to or associated with bad breath. However, typically, there is not sufficient flavor in the chewing gum to mask bad breath for an extended period of time and/or to mask more extreme odors that may be produced in cases of severe bad breath or associated with the ingestion of certain foods or other products.
It is known to use zinc and copper salts to reduce oral malodor. Zinc and copper salts work by bonding with volatile sulfur compounds that can be associated with bad breath. A number of products have been utilized to deliver these salts to the oral cavity. Such vehicles include mouthwash, candies, aerosol sprays, and even chewing gum.
One of the issues associated with the use of these metallic salts is their short, persistence time in the mouth. Such salts are quickly washed away by salivation or the consumption of a beverage. Another difficulty with such salts is they have a metallic taste. Additionally, there is an astringency associated with the metal.
A number of attempts have been made at addressing the problems associated with utilizing zinc and copper salts in oral compounds. One attempt is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,605. In this patent, an edible oil and a surfactant of the metal salt is utilized in a chewing gum. The attempt is to increase retention time of the metal salt in the oral cavity. However, when the system is mixed into a chewing gum mass, it is not effectively released due to the hydrophobicity of the gum mass.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,121,315 attempts to address the problem of the taste of zinc and copper salts. In this regard, this patent includes cooling agents intended to mask the zinc flavor in a candy vehicle. However, when mixed into a gum mass, the hydrophobic gum base may reduce the effectiveness of this masking effect.
There is therefore a need for an improved chewing gum product that can provide metallic salts that provide breath freshening characteristics.